“Mr. Chairman, I am opposed to allowing any
man to take part in this work who is not in thorough
sympathy with the rest of the committee. It would
be a manifest impossibility for this very dangerous
and unprecedented undertaking to be launched with
the possible danger of there being a spy in our company.

“I am not prepared to say that there is such
a spy here, yet until it is satisfactorily demonstrated
that we are all of us true friends of the laboring
men of the country, I shall be against proceeding to
the further outlining of the plan.

“It is not enough that a man profess friendship.
He must be able to show by his acts that he has done
something for his fellow-men besides theorize.”

These views are quickly seconded. Then follows
a talk among the men as to what each of them has done
to establish a record as a friend of the masses.
From the statements and the corroborating testimony
of dissenters, all of the members, with the exception
of Nevins, pass satisfactorily. He has no acts
to his credit. No one admits knowing of him outside
of his work as a committeeman. Not one of those
in attendance at this special meeting will speak a
word in his behalf.

At this juncture, when it looks as though he is to
be ruled out of the committee and his plan repudiated,
Hendrick Stahl asks to be heard.

As Stahl is a member of high standing and the leader
of a strong labor party in Minnesota, he is permitted
to speak. In a few forceful words he denounces
the men for their ungenerous suspicion; he tells them
that he has known Nevins as a friend and co-worker
for years.

Not without a visible degree of dissatisfaction the
objecting members accept the situation and agree to
attend the meeting to hear the reading of the list
of proscribed. The men present do not know that
Nevins had planned the seeming rebellion to test the
sincerity of the men whom he is to take into his full
confidence; that he has Professor Talbot and Hendrick
Stahl working as his lieutenants.

Nothing now standing in the way of the plan, the men
await the hour for the night session. They are
eager to hear the reading of the list.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE LIST OF TRANSGRESSORS.

At length the hour arrives in which the men are to
be given the names of the transgressors. It would
be disastrous to have any knowledge of the affair
fall into the possession of the sleuths of the Trusts;
so every precaution for secrecy is observed.
The loft of the deserted mill is again chosen as the
place of meeting. A thorough search of the storehouse
is made, and then the committee assembles in the narrow
semi-circle.

After the meeting is called to order, there is an
apparent apathy on the part of a number of the Eastern
members. When questioned they freely admit that
they do not believe their constituents would sanction
the drastic measure.